Pie-Polooza at White House Thanksgiving

President Obama and the first family are celebrating Thanksgiving at the White House today with a menu full of the traditional holiday favorites – and six different types of pie.

The presidential chefs have been busy preparing a roast turkey and baked ham, two types of stuffing – cornbread and oyster – and an array of side dishes, including greens, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and dinner rolls, the White House said.

For dessert, guests will have their pick from slices of freshly baked pies: banana cream, pumpkin, apple, sweet potato, huckleberry and cherry. The president’s favorite is reportedly sweet potato.

The meal — identical to the one the Obamas enjoyed each of the past two years – will be shared by an array of friends, family and staff, the White House said, and will likely include as many as 50 members of the extended Obama-Robinson familyin town for the holiday. They joined the first family in a service project Wednesday.

As for how the high-caloric meal jibes with the Obamas’ national healthy eating campaign, White House assistant chef Sam Kass said the holiday is a day to temporarily set the nutritional rules aside.

“Thanksgiving is about a celebration, and enjoying food and family and coming together and really enjoying that whole, that whole process,” Kass said in a recent interview. “So we really, we just have fun and enjoy really traditional dishes, just like dishes that are being eaten all over the country — and the same way that they’ve been eating in their family … since long before they got here. So it’s about fun and enjoyment.”

Aside from the feast, Obama said he would spend part of the day watching football and “reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are.”